Hassan Cheruppa

Saudi Gazette

 

JEDDAH — The amnesty and its extension is a double blessing at least in the case of Bangladeshi community living in the Kingdom.



All their efforts to lift a five-year ban on sponsorship transfer have been crowned with success when the amnesty announced by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah contained a provision to lift the ban on sponsorship transfer of Bangladeshis.



“It is not simply an amnesty but also a sort of blessing for us because we could not transfer residence permits (Iqamas) since 2008,” says Md Nazmul Islam, Consul General of Bangladesh.



“Our people are now seizing this golden opportunity to transfer sponsorship, and of course, we will be among the toppers in the list of those who secure sponsorship transfer by taking advantage of the royal reprieve,” he told Saudi Gazette.  



Nazmul Islam expressed deep gratitude to King Abdullah, royal family and people of Saudi Arabia for not only the declaration of amnesty and its extension but also for lifting the “Kafala (sponsorship)” change ban.



“When the amnesty was announced, many people thronged the consulate and we started issuing them out passes. That time, they were keen to go back as they had almost lost all hopes of lifting the ban. And then the rules came, and now, they are very much relaxed and wanted to transfer sponsorship. The community wholeheartedly welcomed the decision and are extremely delighted,” the consul general said.



In an exclusive interview with Saudi Gazette, Nazmul Islam said that even those people who had earlier made up their mind to leave the Kingdom for good are now in frantic search for sponsors.



“Some of our people come and say that we are not going sir and we got Kafala sir. We prepared a list of 350 people for fingerprinting last Saturday, and called them to go to Tarheel. But only 250 of them came and others said that they already got sponsorship transfer.



“So far, we did not get the exact figure of those who got a release. We are contacting the Ministry of Labor to get it. There are seven provinces in the consulate’s jurisdiction and the remaining six provinces are under the Riyadh Embassy. We are trying to compile the figures from all these provinces. Anyhow, in our case, it should be the highest.”



Hectic works on Kafala change



Nazmul said that there are hectic works at the embassy and consulate for playing their roles in sponsorship transfer procedures after the announcement about the rules and regulations of amnesty on May 10. We then sought clarification from the Ministry of Labor whether it is applicable to us.



We got a positive reply, citing that seven countries including Bangladesh, Ethiopia, and Chad can benefit from the lifting of a ban.



The diplomat said that the Bangladesh government is extending full support so as to enable their citizens to take optimum benefit from the amnesty regulations.



“Our ministers of foreign, labor, and overseas affairs came to personally oversee rectifying procedures. The government took it as a challenge and sent some officers to support us. Our people are very happy to see the elaborate arrangements taken by us. They are seeing that we are fully engaged in work until serving the last man and so they are very disciplined. Our crowd management strategies are also found working well,” he said.



The consulate has set up 14 counters to extend different kinds of services. It also makes use of the Bangladesh International School after its working hours at 2 pm for distribution of passports.



Nazmul noted that the consulate has so far extended 125,000 services, and these included streamlining various processes such as issuing out passes, issuing and renewing passports, paper works for sponsorship transfer and change of profession, and handling surrendered passports of runaway people (Huroob). According to reports, the same number of cases has been processed at the Riyadh embassy. “This means that we have so far extended a total of 250,000 services. It is a quite remarkable achievement.”



According to the consul general, between 5,000 and 7,000 people approached the consulate on a daily basis before Ramadan.  



“We worked from 8 am up to midnight 2 am and finished the paper work procedures on time but things are stuck at the Deportation Center (Tarheel). All consulates are facing the problem of tardiness at Tarheel. So far we could manage fingerprinting of around 3,000 people of which 2,000 got a final exit.”



Full participation of community



Nazmul said that the consulate is ensuring involvement of all sections of the community, including businessmen, community leaders, doctors, and engineers in the ongoing correction drive.



“We had set up three free medical camps, and there were two doctors and three or four nurses at each camp.  Several businessmen came forward to provide free meals and water to the people. Mitsubishi Company has set up a tent outside the premise. After the extension, people seem to be relaxed and are eager to benefit from the blessed month of Ramadan.”



The consul general urged the community members not to waste any time to seize this great opportunity granted by the King. He also disclosed that there is no decision for discounted air tickets for the returnees.



“We are discouraging people from leaving the Kingdom but instead encouraging them to correct the residency and work status. In case, they want to go, we extend all kinds of support. We are making arrangements with Biman to repatriate the returnees and are also exploring the option to give any discount on tickets,” he further said.



Haj arrangements on track



Nazmul, who has been serving as the consul general since 2010, said that the consulate’s Haj arrangements are going well on track.



“We can easily manage things even though the amnesty period coincides with the Haj season. The allotted quota for Bangladesh is 127,000. This year more than 100,000 pilgrims will perform Haj after a 20 percent cut made by the Saudi authorities.”



“We have regular meetings and preparations are going on smoothly. We have almost finished selection of accommodation in Makkah and Madinah. Most of our pilgrims are elderly. We have taken seriously the Saudi Health Ministry’s new directive to postpone pilgrimage of people above the age of 65 and those suffering from chronic diseases. We have passed the information to our Ministry of Religious Affairs to take this matter seriously and accordingly make changes in the list of pilgrims.”